Sunday, May 5, 2013

Carlson III, From Saponi to Melungeon, Part 1

Carlson III, From Saponi to Melungeon, Part 1

This
section will cover the movements of these families From Louisa Co., Va to Flatt
River, NC, to the New River, and on to Scott Co, Va and from there to Hancock
Co., Tn. At the beginning of this migration they were still called Saponi
Indians. By its end, they became known as Melungeons.

The
1745 document claiming concerning unclaimed tithables living in the households
is the first document that included the Bunch and Gibsonsurnames. The Bunch
surname later appears in Catawba records. Both Bunch and Gibson were prominent
surnames in Louisa nad Orange Counties in Virginia in the 19thcentury.
According to Carlson, per oral tradition about these families during the next
century would claim these White families were Portuguese or Spanish, but no
corroborating evidence has ever surfaced (p. 113). Carlson discovered at least
one marriage between the Saponi Collinses and the White Gibson’s by 1739. [289]

By
1747, Thomas Collins obtained some land in Louisa County, Virginia. Gilbert
Gibson’s land was adjacent to Collins’ place. Carlson believes Thomas Gibson
and Gilbert are closely related. This is the same Thomas accused of concealing
tithables in 1745 in Louisa County. Since there s a Thomas Gibson, with a wife
named “Mary” and a daughter named “Cusiah”, or “Kezziah”, and my Nevil Wayland
married a “Kezziah” who would have been born about the same time as Thomas'
daughter, I have strongly suspected Thomas daughter married my Nevil Wayland. I
want to learn more about this Thomas. On p. 114, Carlson says; Several of these
Indian families remained in Louisa County, upstream the Anna on Turkey Creek on
the Virginia frontier, between the James and the South Anna. During the 1750s,
one map would continue to label them as “Nassaw Indians” [293]. Other families
moved to the Flatt River in North Carolina. In 1750 they were in Granville
County, North Carolina.

Since
I am interested in Tom Gibson, here is what Carlson says pertaining to him and
the migration of these Saponi (p. 115); “later in 1751, Tom Gibson received
a noticeably large grant from the prominent ‘Earl of Glanville’ of 640 acres on
the Flatt River adjoining John Collins . . . the Christian Saponi’s choice of
resettling at Flatt River must be more that in interesting coincidence . . .
documents produced during the decade would show that these had settled among or
immediately adjoining the remaining band of Occoneechi Indians who had removed
here somewhere around 1732. Carlson paraphrasing Ramsey, saying; “up
until the late 1750s, John Eaton, Ephraim Osborne, William Harrison and other
colonists using the Trading Ford as a place to trade with the Saponi,
Cherokees, and Catawba. . . .” Carlson adds; “Mitchell’s map also
identifies the Aconeechy living on Flatt River. Bowen’s 1752 map also shows the
ancient title of Occoneechi was being applied towards the Indians living at the
junction of the Flatt and Little River where the trading Path crosses them.
Mitchell’s well known 1754-1755 map [299] of North America then adds to the
complexity of the picture. He shows one band of the Occoneechi where Bowen did
three years prior at the mouth of the Flatt exactly where the Christian Saponi
from Virginia settled in 1750. But Mitchell also shows yet another Aconeechy
Town [300,301] a dozen miles upstream at the headwaters of the Flatt. . . .

(p.
116) The cartographic division of the Occoneechi bands on the Flatt from one
village in 1752 to two in 1755, coincides perfectly with the immigration of the
Christian Saponi families from Virginia to the area. . . . following a sickness
epidemic and a series of attacks on the Catawba towns to the southwest in 1753,
which prompted a portion of the Catawba Saponi band to temporarily move into
this part of North Carolina. Primary documents cited by Tilley show that from
1753-1758 this band of about 30 Saponi were living just North of the Flatt
River in Granville County. Their location was reported to be on the lands of
William eaton, and is thought by one local historian to be those lands Eaton
held just north of present day Henderson. . . unlike the Christian Saponi,
these Saponi still required an interpreter . . . William Eaton filled this
position . . . the Christian Saponi had not used an interpreter for more than
fifteen years. Carlson continues; . . .
Granville County authorities reported that about ’12 or 14 Sapona men and as
many women and children’ were living among William Eaton’s regiment in
Glanville County in 1753-1754, and these Saponi had newly come up from Cheraw
(Sara) Town in the Catawba Nation. . . . In a 1755 document citing figures used
by the governor, Moravian Bishop A. Spangenburg claimed that 28 Saponi had
recently moved to Granville County from Virginia. Because Granville County
embraced Orange County just prior to that Bishop’s publication, it is clear
that the Bishop was referring to the Christian Band of Saponi ...

Chapter
three of Carlson’s dissertation starts on page 119

Carlson
begins; “From 1750 to the Revolution, the
Christian Saponni families remained split between the Louisa County mountains
in Virginia and the more distinct Flatt River Community down in North
Carolina”.He says other mixed race families joined there on Flatt River –
the Sizemore’s and the Ridley’s, or Riddle’s. After the proclamation of 1763,
he speaks of the Flatt River Indians moving again, further west in North
Carolina and Virginia. Carlson mentions Tom Gibson again, saying he obtained
more land, bordering lands obtained by Tom Collins and George Gibson, and an
Indian man named Moses Ridley/Riddle. [314, 315, 316, and 317]

Carlson
reveals (p. 120); “Documents such as tax
records reveal that, in the first few years on the Flatt, the people of the
Christian Saponi Band were enumerated as “White tithables”. [ 309] Soon after
Orange County was formed from Granville in 1753,new county officials chose to
count the citizen Indians . . . as Molatas . . . Virginia and North Carolina
law stipulated that individuals of half Indian and half White heritage to be
labeled ‘mulatto’, while individuals less that half Indian could be deemed
‘White’. [310] In Virginia, any person that was of 1/16th Afrixcan
heritage or more was to be recorded as ‘mulatto’, regardless of the character
of the remainder of their blood quantum.

“The author talks about a Sizemore
man being recorded as a ‘mulatta’. Then the author gets interesting, as far as
I am concerned. He says; . . .three years prior [meaning abt 1750] Ephriam
[Sizemore], George Sizemore,and William Joiner were counted among ‘an old
Indian man’s list’ of Indian and/or mixed blood families living at the time in
Lunenburg County, Virginia. [312]. . .
one may surmise that these men were counted as ‘citizen-Indians’ at that time,
and no tribal identification was shown.”

The
above information got my attention because of the Joiner surname. A century
later, a Thomas Joiner married a half-sister of my direct ancestor. In Bedford
County, Tn, related Joyner’s were listed as “mu” on census records, meaning
‘mulotto’.One of these Joiner’s applied to the Cherokee Freedmen’s Rolls,
claiming to be a tri-racial grandson of John Brown, the 1/8th
Cherokee who operated a Ferry Crossing at “the Suck”, in Chattanooga,
Tennessee. He claimed his father was part Creek and his mother, the daughter of
John Brown and a slave woman. But hearing the story of mulatto Joiners a
hundred years earlier, well it makes me wonder.

In
a letter dated March 30, 1757, Rev. Fontaine, the same man who had visited Fort
Christanna several decades earlier, was said to have commented that the
colonist’s “ought to have intermarried
with the Indians [more frequently], thereby
allowing [them to be] more easily
convert[ed] to Christianity. . . .
The French Reverend derided English Colonial authorities for discouraging
marital liaisons between Indians and Whites. He also noted his concern with
physical appearance by claiming that would result in ‘Indian children as white
at birth as Portuguese or Spaniard.’ From early days, early colonists
realized that mixed race children looked somewhat like Spaniards or Portuguese.

Throughout
the Seven Years War, the Catawba and their allies were courted. But the Flatt
River Indians, per Carlson (p. 128), were also being treated poorly, with
several law suits against them. By about 1770, many of them had started to
return to Virginia. Carlson says, “By
1770, most of the Flatt River Indians had removed back to the mountains of Virginia.
It appears debts, stricter hunting and tax laws, in combination with the
passing of the infamous Proclomation of 1763 and a growing non-Indian
population around Flatt River, would all be factors that played a role in
prompting this move.”[338,339]

About Me

Howdy. I am a 60 year old male (as of late December, 2012). I am using this particular photo for two reasons. i.] I am wearing my t-shirt that I bought at Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City -- I am vrey proud to be an Oklahoman. And ii.] I had just run 2 miles at the gym on a treadmill when that photo was taken. I am also proud to still be able to run a little at 60 years of age. My body is changing though, and I don't know if I'll still be able to run at 61. If it is possible, I will do it. Wish me luck.

I am mostly Caucasian, with a little American Indian and sub-Sahara African DNA mixed in (per DNA testing), Caucasian blood is English, German, and Scots-Irish, probably in equal amounts. American Indian blood seems to be Cherokee and/or Catawba. So many people claim some Cherokee heritage that I hesitate to mention it. Before going further I need to say we are NOT federally enrolled and we don't belong to any of the state recognized groups either. African blood will be researched later. I fear it will be nearly impossible to learn much about, but one day, I'll try. Finding African blood was an unexpected result of searching my Indian blood. Genealogy research is my passion.

My passion has also always been research of any kind, Noone ever hired me to do any, so I made my own research projects,with my genealogy project a prime example. I am proud of our research and have written a book "Finding Our Indian Blood" which will be published shortly by Bluewater Publishing.

I have a Bachelors degree in Mathematics (57 hours) with a Physics Minor (31 hours). I used to search for days on end to be hired to use that degree, but noone cared about it. I was overqualified or underqualified for every job there was. Eventually I gave up and quit telling people about it so I could get hired to do anything.

The bulk of my blogging will be about i.] genalogy research methods; ii.] my family genealogy; iii.] little known Cherokee communities and research; iv.] little known Catawba communities and research; v.] Eventually I will go into African-American genealogy research, especially as it pertains to the mixed race Indian peoples known as "Melungeon". I will fight with my last breath those idiotic notions that the Melungeons are Gypsies or Portuguese. vi.] I love Oklahoma to death. I will write about Oklahoma history as well.

vii.] Years back I had an interest in Bible prophecy. I have always thought you had to be humble to understand it. Thus those who said "God told them" how to interpret things were boasting, therefore they were not humble, therefore you couldn't believe they had any connection at all with God. I suspect God talks only with the meek and the poor, and I might be wrong about that, too. I suspect you'll have to torture me by pulling my teeth without any pain killer to get me to say much about this -- and I wear dentures so good luck with that.

Also, I have an interest in Astronomy, in UFOs, anyhting where I can use my curiosity to consider research of the unknown. I suspect I might not post about these things, either.

I also love dogs, chess, horses, and I suppose goats, too. In fact I must admit I like goats better than I like sheep. It's beyond me why the writers of the Bible preferred sheep, and why they demonized the poor resourceful goat. Well, they also said "for without are dogs" -- shame on them!

If there are no dogs in Heaven, well I am not sure I wanna go there. I recall an episode of "The Twilight Zone" where an elderly man and his dog both died. When they both walked up to the Pearly Gates the man was told his dog wasn't allowed. He said if his dog wasn't allowed, he didn't want to go there, either. Well, it turned out that was the gates of Hell, not Heaven. He eventually reached those Pearly Gates where his buddy was allowed. That's probably the most important lesson about anything that I have ever learned, or am ever likely to learn. And what was that lesson? Dogs are our guardian angels, of course! Well, that's a part of it, anyhow.

Another thing I have learned, I must travel about 20 blind allies to find a nugget of genealogical gold. The vast majority of my research finds nothing at all -- at least not about my family. But it does discover bits and pieces about the big picture, and as such might benefit others more than me. But I too benefit by gaining a little knowledge -- and oh, I do crave knowledge like an addict.

So this blog will cover a little bit about a lot of things, but as time passes that little bit will turn into a mountain, if I live long enough.

For the present though, the blog will cover things related to "my book, "Finding Our Indian Blood", a bit of research of which I am quite proud. It has taken at least 20 years and a thousand hours, and maybe 100 of those hours found something about my family. But the rest was useful also -- the book is only the tip of the iceberg.

I dedicate this blog and book to the thousands of sand grains on the river bottom that can be shown to have, once upon a time, millions of years back, been a part of a larger rock or boulder. And to that rock or boulder that can be proven to have been, millions of years even further back, at the top of the mountain. In short, it is dedicated to making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Oh, and dedicated to discovery, to research of all kinds, colors, shapes and sizes.